GOOD GRACIE - BANISHES THE PAST AND WELCOMES ROMANCE!

GOOD
GRACIE

by
Ines Saint

Pub.
Date: 4/11/2017

Genre:
Contemporary Romance

Spinning
Hills, Ohio, home of the third most haunted street in the state, is
the perfect place for three sisters to banish the unhappy specters of
their pasts—and to let romance cast its spell . . .

Gracie
Piper is good at being invisible, and she likes it that way. At just
seventeen, she took a very public stand against the boy who passed a
revealing video of her all over school. Ever since, she’s staked
her life on staying out of the limelight. But when she moves back to
Spinning Hills, she comes face to face with her painful past. In the
same historic building Gracie’s boss has assigned her to supervise
renovating works the man who helped her find justice nine years ago,
and nearly lost his own career in the process. A man who suddenly
arouses feelings that make Gracie weak in the knees . . .

Josh
Goodwin is sure he’s seeing a ghost when he spots Gracie in the
halls of his office building. Taking her case was a professional risk
that became all too personal when a bitter ex accused him of getting
involved with teenage Gracie. Seeing her again is opening old wounds,
and threatening brand-new ones—his campaign for County Prosecutor
won’t withstand a brand-new scandal. But there’s something about
sweet, gorgeous Gracie that brings out the crusader in him—and the
thing he’ll fight hardest for is her love . . .

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DIY Romance

Guest Post by Ines Saint, Author

A few years into our marriage, my husband and I discovered we really enjoy working on small projects together. Neither of us is handy or crafty, but we always have a lot of fun figuring things out. In fact, I think it’s because neither one of us is great at what we’re doing that we enjoy the process. He’s a research scientist, I’m a writer, and our approach to projects is completely different. But somehow we get things done. It’s so easy to get caught up in routines and to stop thinking about the teamwork that goes into making our lives work... But when we work on something new together, we’re once again humbled, appreciative, and amused by the other’s thought process.

It makes our relationship feel like our projects; something old made new again. Here are before and after pics of a small project we completed a few years ago. The previous owners of our house left a rotted, rusty bench behind. We used some wood that was also left behind and then cut, sanded, painted, and put it all together. Our recycled bench was far from perfect, but we had a lot of fun working on it. For the few years it lasted, whenever we sat on it together, we felt close in more ways than one. When it fell apart right under us last spring, we got another good laugh out of it.

The project was worth the memories. In my new book, PERFECT PAIGE, the hero and heroine are also complete opposites. At first, they can’t stand each other. But when they find they have no choice but to work together to keep Paige’s ex-husband out of jail, they learn they make a great team in more ways than one. And because giving new life to old things is a favorite theme of mine, in the end, the answers they’re looking for will be found with the help of ghosts from the pasts and inside something old made new again.

Ines Saint 
was born in Zaragoza, Spain. She’s bilingual and bicultural and has
spent the last ten years raising her fun, inspiring little boys and
sharing her life with the man of her dreams, who also happens to be
her best friend and biggest cheerleader. Her greatest joys are
spending quality time with family and close friends.

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MARTHA CONWAY SHARES HER NATIVE AMERICAN RESEARCH FOR THIEVING FOREST

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Native American Families

By Martha Conway

These days there is so much information available that I’m fairly sure that whatever is news to me will not be news to someone else. That being said, however, there is a lot I learned about Native American families and communities while I was researching my novel, THIEVING FOREST. Previous to this, most of my “knowledge” came from Hollywood or from my 6^th Grade Ohio state history class. And I don’t even want to tell you how many decades ago that was!

Ohio forest

I had certain prejudices. I thought that some tribes settled in villages, others roamed about hunting and fishing, while still others traded and lived in portable houses (tepees). But as it turns out, in 1806 many Native Americans did a combination or even all of the above, regardless of their tribal affiliation. Much like today, families could be very fluid, moving from one part of the country to another, sometimes living with other families, sometimes going it alone, depending on what we might now call the economy.

Potawatomi dancer

Here are five other facts that surprised me:

1. Different tribes lived together in harmony

Villages might not consist of only one tribe. In fact it was common in northwest Ohio, especially after the Iroquois Wars, for several tribes to live together. It was better for the sake of protection, and it worked to build up tribes that had lost a lot of members to war and famine.

2. Separate checking accounts

Women in certain tribes owned their own land and farmed it themselves. When they sold their crop, they kept the money. Their husbands had their own sources of income.

3. Chiefs could be female

I know, surprising, right?! Never saw that in a Hollywood movie. Also, you might find more than one chief in a village, especially if the village was a large one. Different chiefs had different responsibilities: one might oversee agricultural disputes; another might interview guests and newcomers.

4. Not all tribes took captives

Different tribes had different attitudes about this. Some tribes did not take prisoners at all, some let their captives go after hostilities were over, while others converted captives into adopted tribal members and treated them like family.

5. Intermarriage and adoption was common

Inter-tribal loyalties were strengthened by marriages, much like European royalty. And in fact, in some cases relations through marriage took precedent over tribal affiliation.

Of course, generalizing about Native Americans is like generalizing about Europeans—not everyone is going to be culturally similar, even if they live on the same continent. And my focus was very small: the Great Lakes Indians, or Forest Indians as they were sometimes called. But even so: some surprising facts, yes? Or did you know all this already?!

FIVE SISTERS. FOUR ARE KIDNAPPED. ONE GOES AFTER THEM.

ALL THEIR LIVES ARE CHANGED FOREVER.

”Conway's historical novel features prose as rich as its characters ... hypnotic.” —Kirkus Reviews

"An extraordinary historical novel." —Akron Beacon Journal

On a humid day in June 1806, on the edge of Ohio's Great Black Swamp, seventeen-year-old Susanna Quiner watches from behind a maple tree as a band of Potawatomi Indians kidnaps her four older sisters from their cabin. With both her parents dead from Swamp Fever and all the other settlers out in their fields, Susanna makes the rash decision to pursue them herself. What follows is a young woman's quest to find her sisters, and the parallel story of her sisters' new lives.

Potawatomi man's costume
Field Museum, Chicago

The frontier wilderness that Susanna must cross in order to find her sisters is filled with dangers, but Susanna, armed with superstition and belief in her own good luck, sets out with a naive optimism. Over the next five months, she tans hides in a Moravian missionary village; escapes down a river with a young native girl; discovers an eccentric white woman raising chickens in the middle of the Great Black Swamp; suffers from snakebite and near starvation; steals elk meat from wolves; and becomes a servant in a Native American village. The vast Great Black Swamp near Toledo, Ohio, which was once nearly the size of Connecticut, proves a formidable enemy. But help comes from unlikely characters, both Native American and white.

Both a quest tale and a tale of personal transformation, Thieving Forest explores the transformation of five pioneer women and one man as they contend with starvation, slavery, betrayal, and love. It paints a startling new picture of European and Native American communities, along with compelling descriptions of their daily lives. Fast-paced, richly detailed, with a panoramic view of cultures and people, this is a story of a bygone place sure to enthrall and delight.

“Thieving Forest is the gripping story of Susannah Quiner’s quest to find and recover her sisters, kidnapped as part of a plot against the family, all struggling to survive in the unforgiving wilderness that was 19th century Ohio. The interwoven tales of each sister – and Susannah’s search through the vast forest and swamp that once bordered Lake Erie – are told in fast-paced prose that vividly portrays a time long past and the timeless challenges and choices of life both then and now.

Fans of literature about early life in America from Last of the Mohicans to Little Women will be delighted to discover Thieving Forest and add it to their list of books to enjoy again and again.”

– Alice K. Boatwright, author of Collateral Damage and Under an English Heaven

For an excerpt of THIEVING FOREST, go to Martha’s website at http://www.marthaconway.com

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Martha Conway, Author

Martha Conway’s latest novel, Thieving Forest, has been called “extraordinary” by the Akron Beacon Journal. Her first novel 12 Bliss Street was nominated for an Edgar Award, and her short fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Mississippi Review, The Quarterly, Folio, Puerto del Sol, Carolina Quarterly, and other publications. She graduated from Vassar College and received her master’s degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. She has reviewed fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Review of Books, and The Iowa Review, and is a recipient of a California Arts Council fellowship in Creative Writing. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she now lives with her family in San Francisco.

Martha has taught fiction at UC Berkeley Extension and at Stanford University’s Online Writer’s Studio. She tweets ten-minute prompts and exercises every day on twitter (#10minprompt, #WritingExercise) via @marthamconway.

THE JEDI VS. NOT SO LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY

By Trisha Slay

Did you know that Jedi is the most popular "alternate faith" in the U.K.? In the 2012 census, 176,632 people in England and Wales identified themselves as Jedi Knights making the fictional Star Wars creed the seventh most popular faith in Great Britain (excluding Atheists and people who did not answer the religion question). 

When I first read that, all I could think was, Yay! Over 176 thousand people in Great Britain would probably be interested in reading my book! Wonder if there's any way I can fly to London to visit bookstores and claim the trip as a business expense?

My second thought was, This trend actually makes sense to me. 

The Jedi teachings delivered by Yoda and Obi Wan in the movies were simple, practical guidelines for living a positive, empowered, compassionate lifestyle. They are not harmful. They do not directly contradict or malign other world religions that have a longer history and a more impressive pedagogy. In fact, Mark Hamill once said, "The idea of The Force is basically 'Religion's Greatest Hits.'"

Curious, I spent a little time clicking around the Internets reading article after article about the growing Jediism movement. It appears that the Jedi Order is thriving in other English speaking countries, including at least eight active Jedi churches in the United States and Canada. Even though I'm not planning to run out and join a Jedi church, I experienced a little bubble of Star Wars fangirl happiness...until I made the mistake of reading some of the comments posted in response to those articles.  

Wow. Religion can be a dangerous debate topic in any context. Factor in the fact that Star Wars fans are often maligned (unfairly!) as emotionally stunted, social misfits and I'm sure you can guess that those comments were full of ugliness - cruel jokes, haughty superiority and outright hostility. 

Why all the hate? There is no need for anyone to feel offended or threatened. Yes, I know Yoda is a puppet. He's a very elaborate and wonderful puppet voiced by Frank Oz. So what? I once watched a puppet show depicting bible stories such as Noah's Ark and Jonah In the Whale during a week of Vacation Bible School. Does the use of puppetry suddenly make those stories offensive or irrelevant? I don't think so. So why can't we learn from Master Yoda too?

Yoda says, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." 

There is nothing to fear in a spirituality fueled by Star Wars. Start by considering the concept of the Force, the central core of the Jedi faith.

According to Obi Wan, "The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." 

Hmmm...sounds like a Jedi should respect the interdependent web of life and take care of the environment that supports it. What could be wrong with that?

In Episode V, Master Yoda expands on our understanding of this mysterious Force. "Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by size, do you? Hmm? As well you should not! For my ally is the Force and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter."

Oh how I love that quote! (And I'm pretty sure it compliments the teachings of every major religion on the planet).

The next lesson is for all the bullies and war mongers out there. Yoda says, "Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny." He also says, "A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, NEVER for attack." 

This world would be a much better place if we would all focus on the pursuit of knowledge and stop the cycle of anger, fear and aggression, don't you think?

But what about the biggest terror or all? What about death?

Yoda says, "Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is." Which definitely oversimplifies the great mystery of death...but also sounds like a distilled version of the Buddhist teachings on death and impermanence.

Now, I'm not a religious scholar or student of comparative theology. I don't want to go too far out on a limb here. I just don't think there is anything negative or harmful in adapting the Jedi path as depicted in the Star Wars movies out here in the real world. That said, I know that many people will continue to consider Jediism to be a weird, fringe cult no matter how well I argue to the contrary. So, for them, I'll end with one more quote from Obi Wan in Episode VI.

"You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

It's a terrible thing to live under a question mark....

When Erika helps her best friend, teen beauty queen Cassie Abbott, escape their “Nowhere, Ohio” town, she promises to keep all of their secrets safe, but then the days stretch into weeks with no word from Cassie.  Worse, the sheriff's investigation into Cassie’s disappearance is making Erika doubt she ever really knew Cassie at all.  Under the weight of scrutiny and confusion, Erika struggles just to breathe...until a new movie called Star Wars transforms her summer with a new hope. 

For Erika, Star Wars changes everything! She volunteers to do chores for a local theater owner just to gain unlimited access to a galaxy far, far away from her current reality. At the Bixby Theater - a beautiful-but-crumbling movie palace from a bygone era - Erika discovers true friendship, the crush of first love and a lifelong romance with cinema and film making.  

But she can’t hide in a darkened movie theater forever. Eventually, Erika must step out of the shadows and, armed with her Super 8 camera and the lessons she’s learned from Star Wars, she’ll have to fight to save herself and the theater that has become her home.

Paperback: 316 pages
Publisher: Deeds Publishing (May 21, 2013)
ISBN-13: 978-1-937565-58-9
Twitter hashtag: #NSLASlay

Not So Long Ago, Not So Far Away is available as a print and e-book at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Author Trisha Slay

Trisha Slay is a writer with a passion for storytelling. She has studied at the Institute of Children's Literature as well as furthering her skills through online workshops. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators and the Atlanta Writer's Club. She enjoys participating in writing groups and spends a great deal of time improving her craft. Not So Long Ago, Not So Far Away is her first novel.

Tricia hopes Not So Long Ago, Not So Far Away would be compared to Looking for Alaska by John Green and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. She has said that "If those two books had a Star Wars-obsessed little sister, I'd like to think she would be my novel."

Tricia lives between the Atlanta metro area and the North Georgia Mountains, but hails originally from Ohio...by the way of the San Francisco Bay area. When she is not working on her next book (tentatively titled Sometimes We Strike Back), her interests include: 70s pop culture; unsolved mysteries; Star Wars (original trilogy); historic movie theaters; haunted history; reading (especially YA novels); nutrition/weight watchers/healthy vegetarian cuisine; hiking (exploring the National Forest trails with her guy); yoga/meditation; miscellaneous crafting projects (that rarely turn out as envisioned); and writing letters she never intends to mail.

Find out more about the author by visiting her online:

Trisha’s website: http://trishaslay.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrishaSlayAuthor
Twitter: @SlaytheWriter

Thanks for stopping by!